From the Anhui Province in China, a tea with a delicate and balanced flavor with notes of roasted sugarcane, chocolate and red wine. The tightly twisted leaves have a rich, black coloring, produces a wonderfully unique and satisfying cup and has a lingering sweet aftertaste. Qi Men Mao Feng yields a particularly robust and malty cup with a smooth, deeply floral character and a long, captivating finish. Keemun is often blended with other black teas to produce the English Breakfast blends, but true tea connoiseurs will always go for the unadulterated Keemun. Best enjoyed black, but also stands up quite well to milk.

Keemun is one of the two or three best black teas in the world, Keemun is deservedly one of China's Ten Most Famous Teas, even though the Chinese rarely drink it. Like Tiekuanyin, Keemun is a cultivar or subvariety of tea plant unto itself and this is what accounts for its splendor of flavor and perfume. This is the only tea leaf in which an essential oil called myrcenal is found -- it also occurs in oil of Bay -- and this is what lends its indescribable sweetness to the taste of the tea. Its aroma is like a dying black rose, I think -- friends less poetic are reminded of toast hot from the oven.